Press releases

Press releases

Jim Killock, who is an invited expert on the W3C panel for Do Not Track (DNT), welcomed Neelie Kroes' demands for DNT to be rich and meaningful.

"We have seen attempts by advertisers to stall, water down and even exclude ad tracking from the new standard.

"Do Not Track is a great idea, but could easily be meaningless. If it fails to protect our privacy, then advertising profiling companies are likely to come under renewed attack from legislators. The ad groups who are pushing to make DNT full of holes should realise they are damaging their own industry in the long run."

With less than a week to go before the close of the "adult content" filtering consultation, Open Rights Group is urging people to let the Department for Education know that default blocking would be disastrous.

Jim Killock, Executive Director of the Open Rights Group said:

"We know filters always block the wrong sites. Casual mentions of sex get sites blocked. Health education sites are blocked. Even chat sites, bars and clubs are considered reasonable to block for children.

"So you don't want to induce adults to live with this sort of filtering. But that is what the Daily Mail and Premier Christian Media have convinced the Department of Education to do.

"We need an outbreak of common sense to stop this, before we find the Daily Mail's Nanny State becomes a reality."

Responding to the consultations on costs and the Ofcom code, covering accusations, warnings and Appeals, Jim Killock said:

"Digital revenues are going up, the music and film industry are moving in the right direction, yet this cumbersome policy is still lumbering forward.

"Ofcom are being asked to put lipstick on a pig with this code.

"The appeals are a joke. The Government has decided that 'I didn't do it' is not a defence. Some people will almost certainly end up in court having done nothing wrong."

Key points of the code

* Consumers will have to pay £20 to appeal* There is no fixed standard of evidence, although Ofcom will examine the methodologies* Grounds for appeal have been narrowed, and only include matters of factual accuracy of the accusation* An accusation may relate to anyone using a connection, not just the person receiving a letter* Commercial Wifi operators have been excluded, but libraries, hotels and bars sharing broadband connections over Wifi will have to refute accusations relating to their customers* In court, only accusations relating to the person accused would be relevant. Accusations relating to others (householders, customers etc) would not be relevant.

Responding to the publication of the Communications Data Bill Jim Killock, Executive Director of Open Rights Group said:

"The government's notes confirm that this is exactly what we expected: black boxes to intercept people's traffic data, and poorly supervised police powers to get access to it.

"Bluntly these are as dangerous as we expected, and represent unprecedented surveillance powers in the democratic world.

"China and Iran will be delighted."

ORG, Big Brother Watch and Privacy International will be hosting a press and MP briefing today at 14:00. More information

NOTESClause 1 increases powers to compel operators such as G and F to hand over data. Some safeguards to check but no court supervision, self authorisedPart 2 : interception to collect data allows direct or delegated collection (Clauses 14-16 and Schedule 1). Relies on Interception of Communications Commissioner to supervise the arrangements.

Responding to today's committee votes in the European Parliament, which saw the JURI, ITRE and LIBE Committees all vote against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, Peter Bradwell of Open Rights Group said:

"This is a strong signal that more and more MEPs recognise ACTA is so badly flawed, in so many ways, that it must be rejected. Together the votes are a protest against an unnecessarily imbalanced and ill-considered treaty.

There is still a long way to go before ACTA is finally defeated. The final vote in the European Parliament is in a months time. We need to continue to convince more MEPs that ACTA puts our privacy and freedom of expression at risk and is an affront to democratic principles."

For more information contact Peter Bradwell on 07811 268398 or peter@openrightsgroup.org

The report reveals widespread over-blocking, showing that political commentaries, personal blogs, restaurants' sites and community websites have been blocked incorrectly on mobile networks' child protection filters.

It calls on mobile operators to give parents an 'active choice' to turn filters on, and to be far more transparent about how their systems work.

The report also argues that applying similar blocks to fixed-line broadband, something advocated by Claire Perry MP, will have the same damaging consequences.

Peter Bradwell of Open Rights Group and author of the report, said:

"This report shows how child protection filters can actually affect many more users than intended and block many more sites than they should. These blunt blocks effectively add up to a system of censorship across UK networks.

The lessons for 'porn filter' proposals are clear. Default-on blocks can have significant harmful and unintended consequences for everybody’s access to information.

To help protect children online, the Government should reject 'default on' network filtering and work to give parents simpler choices and better, device-based tools."

Open Rights Group exists to preserve and promote your rights in the digital age. We are funded by hundreds of people like you. We are based in London, United Kingdom. Open Rights is a non-profit company limited by Guarantee, registered in England and Wales no. 05581537.